Vexatious Vagant Varia Trivia Quiz

Answer: Vega

Fifth-brightest star in the night sky and second-brightest in the northern hemisphere, Vega (or Alpha Lyrae) was the northern pole star about 12,000 BC. If you are around in 13,727 AD, it will be the pole star again.

American singer and songwriter Suzanne Vega released the two songs mentioned in 1987. Her record company bought an unofficial remixed version of "Tom's Dinner" by DNA, which went on to become her biggest hit.

Answer: Vulcan

Leonard Nimoy was the actor who originally played the character Spock in the "Star Trek" franchise. If you are a Trekkie, you'll know that the character Spock has a mixed human-Vulcan heritage. The link to fire is that Vulcan is also the Roman god of fire.

Answer: Vampire

Abraham Stoker, better known as Bram Stoker, was author of 1897 Gothic horror novel "Dracula". Count Dracula was the original vampire, said to have been inspired by Vlad the Impaler (or Vlad Dracula), a 15th century Wallachian Prince known for his cruelty.

The record-breaking car was called Vampire. It created the British land speed record of 300.3 mph in 2000. Unfortunately the vehicle crashed in 2006 after a front tyre failed, severely injuring the driver, TV show "Top Gear" presenter Richard Hammond, in the process. Although not trying to break the record, he managed a run of 317 mph on the day.

Answer: Valkyrie

The assassination attempt was depicted in the 2008 film "Valkyrie" starring Tom Cruise in the role of Claus von Stauffenberg, one of the key plotters. Following the assassination, the plotters planned to gain control of the country with a modified version of Operation Valkyrie, a national emergency plan approved by Hitler for use in the case of national civil order breakdown. When the plot failed, Hitler conducted a purge. There were show trials for 200 and, according to some sources, 20,000 were killed or put in concentration camps.

In Norse mythology, a valkyrie was at one time regarded as an angel of death and latterly one of the god Odin's shield maidens, who decided which warriors lived or died in battle. Of the slain, the Valkyries took half to Odin's Valhalla with the remainder going to the goddess Freya and her afterlife field Fólkvangr.

Answer: Viola

American actress Viola Davis plays the lead role in this series which first screened on ABC in 2014. Her career to date has taken in film, TV and theatre. As well as being a stringed instrument, the viola is a genus of flowers having perhaps 600 species.

Answer: Vanilla

Vanilla is a pale yellow colour. It is also a spice coming from orchids of the genus Vanilla and the title of the film is "Vanilla Sky", an American science fiction psychological thriller.

The plant is native to Mexico and Central America. Attempts to cultivate it elsewhere initially failed as pollination required a particular type of bee. A 12 year old slave from the French island of Réunion solved the problem after developing a hand pollination technique.

Answer: Vasa

There are three or four species of vasa parrot, which are endemic to Madagascar and some other western Indian Ocean islands. They are long-necked short-bodied birds with typically black to grey plumage and a pink beak. During the mating season their skin turns yellow and they lose some feathers - indeed some female parrots go completely bald.

Vasa, the flagship of the Swedish navy at the time, managed to sail about 1,300 metres before foundering in 1628. She was top-heavy. Once most of her bronze cannon were salvaged, the ship was forgotten about until rediscovered in a busy Stockholm shipping lane in the late 1950s. The hull was salvaged mostly intact in 1961 and is on display in the museum in Stockholm built to house it.

Answer: Vin

American actor Mark Sinclair, who is probably better known by his stage name Vin Diesel, is known for his portrayal of Dominic Toretto in the film franchise. Chardonnay is a variety of white grape originating in France and which helps to make France one of the world's largest producers of wine. 'Vin' is the French word for wine.

Answer: Violetta

The lead character of the opera is Violetta Valéry. In fact the original name of the opera was "Violetta". Confusingly perhaps, violetta as a musical instrument was the name used by German composers such as Bach for the viola during the 17th and 18th centuries.

Answer: Vaccine

Vaccine (the adjective meaning: pertaining to cows or from cows) is the source of the word 'vaccination', which was first used by Edward Jenner around the end of the 18th century after he proved that people could be inoculated against smallpox (also known as variola) by using a cowpox-sourced vaccine. Louis Pasteur is credited with expanding the use to inoculation against other diseases.